MONDAY September 28, 2020
THE DAILY ILLINI
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Vol. 150 Issue 11
New student government resolution faces criticism Chancellor, administration sign statement against company divestment
homeland and the rights of all people to social justice in the United States. Unfortunately, this resolution forces me to make that choice,” Katnelson said. A couple of conservative commentators stopped in to denounce the resolution. Ryan Fournier, founder and co-chairman of Students for Trump, attended the Zoom meeting to share his disapproval. “Freedom hating groups at the University of Illinois, groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and other Israel hating groups on this campus are sponsors of the resolution before you tonight. That deep hatred is one of the reasons behind it,” Fournier said. Rob Smith, contributor to youth conservative group Turning Point USA, disagreed with defunding police, mentioning that a policeman escorted him when he spoke on the University campus in October of last year. “As a Black man, I am repulsed by this transparent and all too obvious attempt to co-opt a movement to pursue a divisive political agenda,” he said. Other members of the public spoke in favor of the resolution. Tyler Fullilove, sophomore in LAS, shared her support. “As a native student on campus, it pains me to see my money and resources invested into this transnational colonizing force,” Fullilove said. “I am also deeply pained by the administration’s silence on issues of police brutality and corruption, as complacency is just another form of encouragement.” Buthaina Hattab, author of the resolution and junior in LAS, explained how she included divesting from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and police departments as well as prisons and the Israeli military. “I included all because it is all one issue. We can’t
BY MONA ALRAZZAQ STAFF WRITER
RYAN ASH THE DAILY ILLINI
Aisha Shekara checks into the COVID-19 testing site at the Illini Union on Aug. 23. The University has now conducted over
About 5% of all tested on campus infected BY ETHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
Aound 5% of all people who have tested on the University campus have tested positive for COVID-19, according to figures shared by University spokesperson Robin Kaler on Friday. According to Kaler, 48,605 students, faculty and staff have tested with on-campus saliva tests since they were introduced on July 6. With 2,362 cases identified as of Friday, around 4.86% of all campus testers tested positive for COVID-19. The infection rate among the current campus population is likely higher. Kaler
said around 38,000 people are testing on the UI campus every week, while about 35,000 students are living on and around campus. “Faculty and staff who come to campus must participate in testing, but we don’t track where they live,” Kaler said in an email. “We don’t track how many are coming to campus, but by the testing numbers, I’d guess about 3,000.” Most cases, nearly 2,000, have cropped up since classes began on Aug. 24. To date, the University has administered over 400,000 saliva tests since July, and over 316,000 since classes started. Awais Vaid of the Cham-
pa ig n-Urba na P ubl ic Health District previously said over 95% of all campus cases have been from undergraduate students. If that figure holds, at least 6% of on-campus students have tested positive for COVID-19. The on-campus spread of COVID-19 continued last week, with a higher count of new cases than the week previous. For the week ended Friday, 225 new cases were identified from almost 60,000 campus tests. The week prior, campus found 181 new cases from 58,000 tests, driving down the new case positivity rate significantly.
Tuesday’s tests found 62 new cases, the highest since Sept. 8, when 81 new cases were identified. The University’s twoweek restrictions on undergraduate students helped to curb an alarming spike in cases at the beginning of September, when almost 900 people tested positive for the virus in a single week. Officials at the University have said virus spread is mostly limited to off-campus properties for the time being. @esimmsnews ecsimmon@dailyillini.com
Health officials stress flu shots amid pandemic Flushots available at ARC this week
University administrators quickly condemned an Illinois Student Government-backed resolution 04.22, which called for the University to divest from companies that support fossil fuels, the prisonindustrial complex, Israel’s military and local police departments. “It is unfortunate that a resolution before the group tonight was designed to force students who oppose efforts to divest from Israel to also vote against support for the Black Lives Matter movement,” administrators wrote Wednesday night, shortly after the resolution passed through the student senate. The statement was signed by Chancellor Robert J. Jones, Provost Andreas Cangellaris and four other vice chancellors. “This resolution includes several points on which we can agree, but a foundational value of this institution is inclusion, and this resolution includes language that we cannot and will not support,” the statement says. ISG’s non-binding resolution, titled “Human Rights Violations in University Investments and Police Forces,” passed with 22 “yays,” seven “nays” and 11 abstentions from senators after a three and a halfhour long virtual meeting. Ian Katnelson, a junior at University in LAS, opened up public comment, vehemently opposing the resolution. “I should not have to choose between supporting the right of Jews to their
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BY AMRITA BHATTACHARYYA STAFF WRITER
As flu season approaches, Champaign-Urbana health officials are urging community members to get their flu shots this year, especially with COVID-19 in tow. Although health officials encourage people to get vaccinated every year, this flu season is especially important because of the pandemic, said Julie Pryde, administrator at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. “In winter, it’s cold and flu season,” Pryde said. “This year, it’s going to be cold and flu and COVID season.” During flu season, health officials are expecting an increased number of patients who present with respiratory symptoms, said Christopher Brooke, professor in LAS. This is a problem because influenza and COVD-19 are both respiratory illnesses that present similar symptoms such as fever, cough, fatigue and sore throat, according to the Center for Disease Control. “Every year we have hospitalization in this community related to flu and the pneumonia that often accompanies f lu, so we don’t want to overwhelm our healthcare system,” Pryde said. As of Saturday, four Champaign County residents are hospitalized for COVID-19. According
RYAN ASH THE DAILY ILLINI
Students line up on the Main Quad to get flu shots at McKinley Health Center’s Flu Shot Clinic on Oct. 1, 2018. Health officials encourage flu shots to avoid overwhelming hospitals this winter.
to Pryde, the hospitals in Champaign County serve about 1.5 million people, with a “catchment area” that extends outside the county.
“In winter, it’s cold and flu season … This year, it’s going to be cold and flu and COVID season.” JULIE PRYDE ADMINISTRATOR AT CUPHD
“ We don’t only need people in our community to get flu shots, we need them all around us to get them as well,” Pryde said. Brooke said it’s still unclear if contracting the
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flu makes a patient more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 as well. “When it’s summer here, it’s flu season in the southern hemisphere,” Brooke said. “Oddly enough, this year there basically were hardly any influenza infections, and this is almost certainly because of all the extra measures that have been put in place to control the coronavirus — they also control flu as well.” There is not enough data about what happened to the people who were coinfected with the flu and COVID-19, he added. In general, “any time you get any type of respiratory illness, you can get like a secondary bacterial pneumonia,” Pryde said. Pryde recommends peo-
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ple get their flu shots at least two weeks before the flu starts circulating in the community because it takes time to build immuniSCREENSHOT OF ZOOM ty. As this is hard to antici- Robert Smith of Turning Point USA speaks at the Illinois pate, Pryde said the months Student Government Senate meeting on Wednesday. Smith of October and November denounced the resolution. are the “standard” time to get it. Since Sept. 15, University students who have paid the Health Service Fee can get flu shots for free at multiple McKinley Health Center outreach locations on campus. This week, flu shots will be available Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Activities and Recreation Sports: Several Features: Students Center from 10 a.m. to 2 former Illini compete have options for p.m.
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